


Ricky's Story

by Reader88



Series: The Utopian Knights [2]
Category: Gridiron Gang (2006)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-26
Updated: 2014-04-02
Packaged: 2018-01-17 01:26:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 5,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1368880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reader88/pseuds/Reader88
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ricky Rodriguez is a Mexican-American teenager selling marijuana in inner-city Chicago. When he's arrested for drug dealing he reminisces about his life and constant tragedies and how it has contributed to his life as a juvenile delinquent...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I imagine Ricky Rodriguez looking like Jeremy Ray Valdez who did play a character named Ricky Rodriguez on the sitcom That's So Raven.

March 1980

Ricky Rodriguez was waiting for the city of Chicago to be enveloped in darkness once nighttime came. Only in darkness could he fulfill his dark mission.

Once darkness fell, he put on a black, baggy, leather jacket, put several plastic bags in his pockets and stepped out of an abandoned basement into the mean streets of Chicago. He was on his way to a ghetto street corner to sell what he had in the plastic bags.

When Ricky arrived in Chicago the previous year he had started pulling off scams and hustling peoples' money to survive on the streets until some Hispanic teens introduced him to Alex, a drug dealer in the area looking for other teenagers who were interested in making a quick buck. Ricky remembered the sharp smell of the abandoned apartment building, the sight of several plastic bags of marijuana. The marijuana was put in hand-rolled cigarettes, packed in plastic bags, then sold on the street for $20 an ounce. Selling drugs in impoverished neighborhoods helped Ricky survive on the streets.

Ricky was considered one of the best drug dealers Alex had ever met. He had a handsome face, a smile that drove girls wild, and was so charming that Alex quoted, "He could sell hens their own eggs back and sell a hat to someone without a head." Ricky liked the easy money that came from drug dealing as he was always looking for an easy way to get rich. Why work hard to make his fortune when there were whole neighborhoods of suckers willing to throw their lives away on drugs?

Ricky stood at the street corner, leaning on the wall and trying to look cool, as if he wasn't doing anything important. Next to him was his duffel bag which contained everything he owned. Two white teenage girls came close to him and he flashed them his winning smile. They stopped, looked at him, and giggled.

He then asked them, "You ladies want to buy some grass? Only twenty dollars." Ricky looked both ways and slipped out two marijuana bags from his jacket and gave it to them. They each gave him a $20 bill and he gave them a sly wink as they walked away.

In two hours Ricky had unloaded most of his supply. Then he walked through the some back alleys to get to a different neighborhood. As he was walking through the streets of Chicago he heard someone yell, "Freeze! Put your hands in the air or we will shoot!" Ricky put his arms in the air and then lay flat on the ground. The police officers searched his black coat and duffel bag and confiscated his money and drugs. Ricky was then handcuffed and put in the back of a police car. One of the cops told him, "You're under arrest for selling illegal drugs. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney and if you can't afford one the court will assign one."

Ricky thought to himself,  _I've heard this all before, man. I'm licked if I try to stay out of trouble and licked if I get into it. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. If I take two steps forward I have to take two steps back._

Ricky was left alone with his thoughts as the driver sped out of the projects with the siren wailing.


	2. Chapter 2

The car sped through the streets of Chicago all the way to the police precinct. Ricky was left alone with his thoughts as he wondered what kind of punishment awaited him for his crime. He was most likely going to be sent to a juvenile detention centre just like Harrisburg Juvenile Detention Center. As long as he kept a low profile he'd probably be able to survive in juvie again.

When they arrived at the police station, the police officer dragged Ricky out of the back seat and led him into the station. A white police officer at the front desk asked, "What's this one in for?"

The other police officer replied, "Drug dealing. Marijuana to be more precise. Another guy poisoning the bodies of kids just to make a quick buck."

Ricky was fingerprinted and fined. He was then asked if he'd prefer a blood or urine test to determine if he had been smoking weed. When Ricky didn't say anything a cop showed him a cup and a needle. Ricky pointed at the cup and was led to the washroom. After he handed them his cup full of piss he was put in a jail cell in Juvenile Hall. Ricky saw there was an African-American teenager in the cell but he didn't say anything when Ricky was pushed in.

Then a police officer came and said, "OK you two, keep it shut, tomorrow's gonna be a busy day," even though Ricky and the black guy weren't saying anything. The black guy rolled over in his tiny bed on the bottom bunk and tried to fall asleep. Ricky rolled in his own bed on the top bunk and tried to do the same.

The next morning after a breakfast of oatmeal and orange juice, the black teen was let out of his cell, most likely to be interrogated and Ricky was let out for his own interrogation a bit later. Ricky often smooth talked his way out of tough situations but the last time he tried to smooth talk around the cops he ended up serving six months in juvie. He decided it was best to remain silent. He realized that there was a good chance they knew about his drug dealing before they had arrested him and they had probably been keeping a close watch on all the drug dealers who worked for Alex.

The cop who interrogated him said, "We know Alex is not smart enough to pull off this operation by himself. There are other people pulling the strings. Just tell us the names of the big men. We'll settle for nicknames. In return you'll get a lighter sentence." But Ricky didn't say anything. The cops were frustrated that Ricky remained silent but they realized they couldn't make him say anything and that if he wanted to remain silent that was his right. Ricky was allowed one phone call but couldn't think of anyone who could help him out so he was escorted back to his cell.

While Ricky was escorted back to his cell a cop told him, "A handsome guy like you must have a pretty girlfriend tucked somewhere. Right now, you make the money and she sucks your dick. Go to prison, you'll suck the dick and she'll make the money."

Ricky knew the cops were trying to break him by threatening his manhood but Ricky wasn't a sucker for the cops. When Ricky was escorted back to his cell he saw the black guy lying on his cot fast asleep. Ricky decided to catch a mid-morning nap and lay there on the top bunk trying to sleep. He then wondered if his Uncle Eddie had ever been put in a jail cell. He loved pulling off scams and was one of the sliest guys Ricky had ever met. He then started thinking about his aunts and his parents. But he willed himself to stop. He had made a promise when he was a kid that he would never make the mistake of loving anyone again. Loving and then losing someone was too much pain for his heart to endure...


	3. Chapter 3

Jaime was playing a salsa tune on his guitar for his young son. His son was bobbing his head to the music, letting it carry him away from the low-down slums of Mexico City and into a magical world of playfulness and wonder. When Jaime finished playing his guitar, six-year-old Ricardo stood up and applauded.

Ricardo Jaime Rodriguez was born on July 10th, 1964. His father, Jaime Rodriguez, was one of the finest guitar players in the slums and was the bandleader of his own salsa band. His wife, Linda Rodriguez, was their lead singer. At a young age Ricardo developed a love for music. However, the instrument he really wanted to play was the trumpet. Whenever Roberto, the trumpeter in his father's band, blew into his trumpet he seemed to make it talk. Like the trumpet was his second voice. The band performed in all sorts of clubs in Mexico City and was determined to use their musical skills to get their families out of the slums.

Life in the slums of Mexico City was marked by poverty. Uneducated people, very high unemployment, violent youth gangs, and the illegal drug trade. Ricardo learned about the dangers of the slum from a very young age. He was taught never to accept "gifts" from strangers, to stay away from the older boys as they were a rebellious bunch, and to be home by dark. Senorita Gonzalez looked after Ricardo while his parents were away at gigs.

Criminals saw the slums as ripe for the picking. Adults enticed several youngsters in gangs promising them money, power, protection, and respect. But all these kids received was a short life of fear that ended with an all-expense paid trip to the city morgue. Extortionists also had territory to protect. One extortionist in particular, named Armando Valdez, kept bothering a club named Javier's Place. This club was one of Jaime's highest paying gigs. Some nights while his band was packing up, Jaime would see Armando and Javier discussing together about protection money.

"Where's my money?" asked Armando.

Javier replied, "I'm not paying you money just so you can sit back and watch me cower from a threat that isn't there." Jaime knew that not paying an extortionist protection money can result in serious consequences but he was also proud that Javier stood up to Armando.

Armando sneered and said, "You're going to regret what you said."

Two weeks later Ricardo was helping a neighbor clear out some of their old stuff from their house. The job took longer than expected and pretty soon it was after dark. Just as Ricardo was about to go home he saw smoke in the air and quickly climbed to the roof of the house to get a better view. Fires were dangerous in the slums since most of the houses were made of wood, and other flammable materials. Ricardo saw the fire was somewhere in the middle-class section of town which wasn't far from the slums. He looked closer and suddenly recognized with a cold jolt that Javier's club was burning down. Ricardo ran as fast as he could to Javier's Place and saw a man in a fancy black suit looking at the club with an evil smile.

He turned around and grabbed Ricardo by his shirt collar and said, "Tell all your slum dwellers what happens to people who mess with the big boys." Then he threw Ricardo down on the ground and left. Ricardo never saw him again.

Ricardo went behind the club to try and find his parents. When he got to the back fence he saw something awful that made him start wailing. His mother, father, the band members, Javier and his staff, were hanging from the fence, tied by their wrists. Ricardo saw they had been severely beaten and saw several bullet holes in their bodies that were still leaking blood. Ricardo lay down flat on the ground and cried his little heart out. He almost didn't hear the sirens wailing.


	4. Chapter 4

Ricky was sitting alone in his bedroom. He was listening to his Uncle Eddie converse with his friends in the living room. Ricky had been living in East L.A. for two months and he was still taking time adjusting to his new life. It seemed like just yesterday the whole family came to Mexico City for the funeral. Uncle Eddie, Aunt Rose, and Aunt Juanita all flew down from the United States to bid farewell to Jaime and Linda. Eddie said he would take guardianship of Ricky and soon Ricky had packed up his few possessions in a small suitcase and was on an airplane with his Uncle Eddie to East Los Angeles, California. Ricky remembered how his uncle tried to tell him excitedly how he was going to love living in California.

"There's lots of stuff for kids to do in California. You can go to the beach, Disneyland, the L.A. Zoo. The sun is always shining in California. Now I ain't going to lie to you, East L.A. is one of the roughest, toughest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. But it's not as scary as the slums of Mexico City."

Ricky also remembered the interrogation at the police station. One of the cops told him, "We'll try our best but I wouldn't be surprised if the chief dismissed the case altogether. An extortionist killing some folks from the slums. It's so common that it's not much of a crime."

Mexicans often crossed the border and settled in the USA illegally but Eddie, Rose, and Juanita weren't illegal immigrants. They had gone through all the legal procedures when they moved to the USA. The USA attracted a lot of immigrants because it was the world's richest country. It had a stable government, an excellent health care system, and a high rating on the Human Development Index. Ricky had taken notice of the different standards of living in East L.A. People lived in small, sturdy one-story houses with two or three bedrooms. They had electricity and running water 24/7 as long as they paid their bills. However, East L.A. had a high crime rate, illegal drug businesses, and blue-collar residents who struggled to make ends meet. The more things change the more they stay the same.

Eddie worked as a gardener for Pacho's Garden Service six days a week. He worked a different affluent neighborhood everyday. Monday, Hollywood. Tuesday, Beverly Hills. Wednesday, Holmby Hills. Thursday, Bel-Air. Friday, Encino. Saturday, Brentwood. Eddie didn't have a lot of trouble making ends meet but with Ricky living under his roof it might get tough. But Eddie had another way to make money: he pulled off scams. Three-card Monte, charity fraud, rare item scams, you name it. Eddie was a very successful conman but sometimes his scams led him into trouble.

Eddie did his best to help Ricky get settled in California. He took him to the beach, took him to the movies, and even to Disneyland once a friend of Eddie's who worked as a maintenance man got them a discount. Ricky was enrolled in an ESL class at the local elementary school so that he could learn how to speak English. Ricky had received his nickname from some neighbors who taught him that having an American-sounding name would help with his assimilation. As each day passed Ricky returned to the land of the living and started talking and smiling again. He was soon playing with the other kids and became very popular.

Ricky also hadn't lost his love of music and asked his uncle, "Uncle Eddie, for Christmas can I have a trumpet?"

Eddie asked, "Why do you want a trumpet?"

Ricky replied, "Because I love music." So on December 25th, 1971, Ricky Rodriguez found a shiny, gold trumpet with a bright red ribbon under the Christmas tree. Ricky thanked his uncle a thousand times over and started practicing. Ricky knew that if he wanted to make it big as a musician there was no better city than Los Angeles.

Ricky also took part in many of his uncle's scams. He soon became a pro at Three-card Monte. When Eddie and Ricky took road trips to different places in the Western United States they were able to pull off a number of scams. One of Ricky's favorites was dressing up as a Boy Scout and using his cute boy face to make people buy up to twenty boxes of Wilderness Cookies. The catch was that none of the customers ever got the cookies. As his Uncle Eddie used to say, "There's a sucker born every minute."

Ricky soon came to love California and his uncle but, unfortunately, tragedy struck. When Ricky was eight years old his uncle got out of a friend's car and started walking home. Then a Ford drove up near him and a hand holding a gun came through the window, pulled the trigger and Eddie was lying on the sidewalk in a puddle of his own blood. The Ford quickly drove away as Ricky came out of the house and started crying over his uncle's dead body.


	5. Chapter 5

After Eddie's funeral, Ricky was put under the guardianship of his maternal aunt, Rose, who lived in East Harlem, Manhattan, New York. East Harlem was predominantly Hispanic, just like East L.A. But it's also considered one of the most impoverished neighborhoods in New York City. After living in the slums of Mexico City and the mean streets of East L.A., Ricky figured he could handle it. However, it seemed like East Harlem was just as scary as East L.A. or Mexico City, if not worse. The New York City gangs were trying just as hard as the L.A. gangs to kill each other. More than half of the Hispanic-Americans living on his block suffered from unemployment. A good portion of residents suffered from homelessness. Ricky remembered the countless drug dealers he saw on his way to school, often selling drugs to kids and teenagers. Ricky's elementary school had students who smuggled in guns, knives, and even drugs and alcohol. Ricky remembered that a ten-year-old was stabbed to death in the schoolyard and a twelve-year-old girl was shot to death by another girl who claimed that she made moves at her boyfriend. Less than half of the teenagers attending the high schools graduated. The females ended up becoming mothers before they were eighteen and the males ended up becoming gangsters or drug dealers.

Aunt Rose's apartment on 1st Avenue was very small, about the same size as Ricky's old house in the slums of Mexico City. The living room and kitchen kind of joined together and the dining table in the kitchen was small. Since it was just the two of them the table wasn't a big deal. If you took a few steps from the front door to your left you would find the two bedrooms. They were small but cozy.

Aunt Rose was able to support herself and Ricky by working as a maid for a wealthy white family in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The hours were long and the pay wasn't very great but it was better than nothing. On the weekends Aunt Rose took Ricky on tours of Manhattan. Ricky's favorite spots were the pizzerias in Little Italy and Central Park. Ricky also kept himself busy by playing his trumpet. People in East Harlem loved music as it helped them escape their tough lives. Ricky remembered how the sounds of salsa transported him back to his childhood days in Mexico City and then he would start crying because he would suddenly feel the unbearable pain of losing his parents. Music helped Ricky escape his sorrow and he soon became a very talented trumpeter. Ricky and his trumpet made several appearances at weddings and parties.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck again when Ricky was ten. His aunt went to work just like any other day but she didn't come back. Ricky stayed over at the neighbors and after three days they decided to do some investigating. When Ricky came home from school the neighbours told Ricky that they found Aunt Rose's body in the morgue. She had suffered a brain aneurysm on the subway and someone had noticed she was dead, took her out of the subway car, and called the city morgue. Ricky wondered how many times someone would leave him before he said goodbye. Ricky wasn't sure how much heartbreak he could endure. But there was more to come. A lot more.


	6. Chapter 6

After Aunt Rose's funeral Ricky and his second maternal aunt, Juanita, boarded a Greyhound bus for Houston, Texas. Ricky kept himself busy by writing in his notebook. Ricky used to read storybooks to Enrique, a young boy who suffered from brain damage due to a car accident. After Ricky finished all the storybooks he started making up stories for Enrique and Enrique thought Ricky's made-up stories were better than the storybooks. Ricky then went back to his apartment, took out a piece of paper and wrote a short story in thirty minutes.

He showed it to Aunt Rose who read it and said, "Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Do you know how talented you are?" Ricky started writing out stories in a notebook he purchased from the corner store. He also started writing songs as well figuring that was a skill he needed if he wanted to become a successful musician.

Ricky wrote some songs in his notebook and all of a sudden his Aunt Juanita said, "Pack up, Ricky. Welcome to Texas." Ricky stepped out of the bus with his suitcase and saw several tall buildings. Ricky had expected cowboys, horses, cacti, and black people talking in thick, Southern accents. But Houston looked like a typical modern city.

They took a taxi to Aunt Juanita's small house in the inner-city and saw four teenagers sitting on the grass on her front lawn. Two were Hispanic and two were African-American. Aunt Juanita said, "Carl, Ralph, how are your parents?"

The two black teens said, "They're doin' alright, Juanita. Who's this little guy?"

Aunt Juanita replied, "This is my nephew, Ricky Rodriguez. My sister died and now he's livin' with me."

Ralph said, "Well welcome to the 'hood, Ricky."

Juanita pointed to the two black teens and said, "These two guys are Carl and Ralph." She then pointed to the Hispanic teenagers, "These two are José and Santiago."

Ricky smiled and said, "Nice to meet you." The four teens walked off the lawn, down the street, and around the corner. Ricky and Aunt Juanita stepped into Aunt Juanita's small Houston abode. Aunt Juanita smiled and said, "It's not much, but it's now yours as well." Aunt Juanita showed him a small tour of the house. There was a living room with a TV set and a small kitchen with an even smaller dining table. There were two bedrooms, one was Juanita's bedroom and the other was the guest room. Ricky got to sleep in the guest room.

Aunt Juanita worked as a postal worker at the local post office. The work wasn't too bad and the pay was decent. Now that she had Ricky she was really going to have stretch the pennies to make ends meet. Ricky's Aunt Juanita made him think about the different places he had lived. The people who lived in the slums of Mexico City were the poorest of the poor and the rest of the city pretended they didn't exist. When people, like his parents, were killed by gangsters and extortionists the police looked the other way. Who cared about some dead folks from the slums? East L.A., East Harlem, inner-city Houston. Hispanics and Latinos lived in these neighborhoods in extreme poverty. Hispanics and Latinos were visible minorities in the USA and there wasn't much they could do about it. But Ricky remembered people he had seen on the news and in the papers who were trying hard to improve lives for Hispanics and Latinos. Cesar Chavez was a Mexican-American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist who was working tirelessly to improve the lives of Hispanic and Latino farm workers. He had become an icon for several Mexican-Americans. Ricky admired his work but believed there was more that could be done to improve lives for Hispanics, such as improving lives in the ghettos. But it seemed the citizens of the USA had better things to do than worry about the fate of a people they hadn't managed to eradicate in the Spanish-American War and the Mexican-American War.

Houston had a vibrant music scene. The Hispanics mixed salsa music with other genres, including country and western, R&B, blues, and Southern soul. African-Americans were also very musical, so Ricky found himself hanging out near black churches and clubs to improve his musical skills.

One day Juanita said she had to miss a day of work to go for a check-up at the doctor's office. Ricky hoped it was nothing serious and realized he was just kidding himself. Of course it was something serious, something that would kill her. Ricky had become so used to disappointment that he was now expecting the worst. Ricky was right because Juanita came home and told him that she had liver cancer. She explained that she used to be an alcoholic but had kicked the habit after being released from rehab. Now it seemed she would pay the price for trying to drink her life away.

Juanita tried to put Ricky's mind off her illness as much as she could. She played with him, listened to his music, read him stories, and read the ones he wrote. Unfortunately, Juanita was admitted to the hospital shortly after that day when she collapsed at work. Ricky was sent to a foster house because nobody else in the neighborhood could afford to take care of him. Ricky visited his aunt everyday at the hospital and held her hand after every operation. But everyday she became weaker and weaker and Ricky finally got a chance to say goodbye before she passed away in September 1975.

Ricky had no other relatives to take him in so he was officially a ward of the state of Texas. The other kids at the foster house told him that the older you get the less likely you are to get adopted. But several foster families took Ricky under their wings, claiming they loved children. They loved children alright, but for the wrong reasons. Ricky remembered how his first foster mother had come into his room while he was changing and had taken off her clothes. Ricky got a cold jolt in his spine and tried to run but she tackled him and forced her entryway into his. Grunting and wheezing, she didn't seem to care how much this was hurting Ricky. When she was done she left the room and Ricky was lying on bedsheets covered with bruises. That wasn't the end of it. Several foster families did all sorts of sick things to the young, handsome boy. Kissing him, raping him, molesting him. One day Ricky couldn't take it anymore, packed up his things and ran away.

Ricky remembered looking out at the streets of Austin and decided that he would somehow have to make the most of it. He bought a deck of cards and set out to see what the world had in store for him.


	7. Chapter 7

Ricky Rodriguez survived his brutal life on the streets by riding the rails and pulling off scams. His favorite scam was Three-card Monte. He remembered the rules his Uncle Eddie had told him about the scam. "Remember Ricky that you can never win at Three-card Monte. I always know where the card is and I keep raising the bet until they get scared. If a person picks the wrong card I'll make them bet everything they've got. If someone picks the right card and doesn't get scared when I keep raising the bet then, ya listening Ricky? We run!"

Ricky was able to scam wads of cash from several suckers with Three-card Monte and a few other scams, like pretending he was a Boy Scout selling cookies from a catalog or selling a rare antique he just fished out of the garbage.

In 1978, Ricky settled in the projects of Cleveland, Ohio and then his luck finally ran out. A white man named Sly Ry, short for Ryan, saw him pulling off his scams and offered a get-rich-quick scheme that Ricky couldn't refuse: working in an illegal casino in the basement of a rib shack. Ricky soon became the sliest dealer in the casino and was walking out with tons of cash each night. But one day, in July 1978, while Ricky was playing a game of poker with a few cards up his sleeves, some cops broke down the door to the casino and said, "Freeze! Drop the cards and put your hands up!" Ricky yelled, "Damn it!" The cops handcuffed him and put him in a squad car.

Ricky's interrogation didn't go so well since he kept trying to smooth-talk his way out of the police station. "Listen, guys. That casino was a service to the people who live in the projects. They barely put bread on the table working from nine to five so that casino is an excellent way to put some extra money on the side."

A police officer named Officer Banks replied, "Right. So how much money do they actually walk away with because I could tell from your body search that you had several cards up your sleeve when you were playing poker."

Ricky gasped and clutched his heart and said, "Well, I am wounded and offended. We were running a legitimate operation."

Officer Banks rolled his eyes and said, "Thank you for your time."

In juvenile court, Ricky was found guilty for helping run an illegal gambling operation and was sentenced for one year at Indian River Juvenile Correctional Facility. Indian River is located in Massillon, Ohio, which is an hour away from Cleveland. Ricky was on the bus with six other boys whose eyes were full of anger and their muscular arms looked ready to tear someone to pieces. When they arrived at Indian River, the warden introduced himself and made it quite clear that he could care less about the boys under his custody. As long as they followed the prison rules then everything would be fine. The boys changed into prison uniforms with grey shirts and black, saggy pants without belts. Since the guards had to worry about the prisoners' safety they couldn't give the boys things to use as weapons, such as belts that they could choke someone with or stainless steel knives. The boys also wore Velcro sneakers. Shoelaces can also be used to choke someone.

Ricky learned the rules rather quickly. When the counselors ordered you to do your chores you do them without complaints. All the boys got along together but sometimes there were spats between the boys who belonged to different gangs. Ricky kept quiet and kept to himself. He did chores when he was asked and was praised on how while he kept things clean: his room, the floors, the bathrooms, the dishes. He was also a talented handyman. When the lights in the hallway of his room went out he helped fix it. He was soon asked to fix other things like the toaster in the kitchen or a clog in the bathroom sink. Ricky soon felt pride with his talented hands. He also felt pride after he played songs on his trumpet, which he had been allowed to bring with him. The boys always stopped fighting and fussing to listen to him play. One boy told him, "With your talents you'll definitely be on _American Bandstand_."

Ricky was considered one of the most well-behaved boys at Indian River and in January 1979 was released on parole after serving only six months in juvie. He was sent to a halfway house in Columbus where he attended school and received counseling. He was also allowed to take his American citizenship test since he had lived in the country for about eight years. He passed with flying colors and became an American citizen. He was released in July 1979 and sent into foster care but the head of the foster house was an alcoholic and extremely neglectful so some nights the children went to bed hungry. Ricky packed up his things and bought a one-way bus ticket to Chicago. He started pulling off scams and then was introduced to the more profitable world of drug dealing. From the day his parents died Ricky Rodriguez seemed destined for failure. But destiny works in mysterious ways...


	8. Chapter 8

Ricky was awakened from his cot by a police officer who gave him and Nick lunch. They ate bologna and cheese sandwiches, water, and a chocolate chip cookie each. The guard told them, "Your arraignments have been scheduled for this afternoon. That means you two will hear the charges against you. The judge will then decide whether or not to set a bail. Just thought you'd want to know."

Ricky wondered what kind of jail he would be sent to. Probably some kind of juvenile detention center. It didn't make much difference to him, all jails were the same. Ricky wondered if the black guy was also pondering about their upcoming trial.

Ricky didn't say anything and the black teen wasn't saying anything. But they both looked at each other and asked each other questions with their eyes. Even though they weren't talking they were still managing to have a conversation.


End file.
